Brown Environmental Leadership Lab (BELL): Eastern Sierras

The Brown Environmental Leadership Lab (BELL) combines concepts in environmental studies, ecology and leadership, with a mission of developing socially responsible leaders. At BELL, you’ll embark on a journey of learning and reflection while building community with the fellow student environmentalists in your program. This 11-day program will take you to Reno, Nevada and Mammoth Lakes, California. Your home base for the majority of the program will be the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL). In the classroom and during outdoor labs, you will step into the shoes of a field scientist, working to better understand the causes and impacts of climate change. You will also develop resources and skills for environmental advocacy and environmental justice literacy while learning about socially responsible leadership. During your Eastern Sierras adventure, you will visit fascinating geological features of the area on trips to Mono Lake, Panum Crater, Devil’s Postpile National Monument and Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. At each site, you will learn about field methodology for data collection. Back at SNARL, you will put your field knowledge to use during indoor and outdoor lab exercises and lessons. Over the course of your BELL experience, you will also identify a pressing issue that you are passionate about. With support from instructors and peers, you will develop an Action Plan to apply your new leadership knowledge to this issue when you return home.